Rose McGowan temporarily blocked from Twitter after Weinstein tweets

Actress Rose McGowan has been blocked from Twitter after denouncing the film producer Harvey Weinstein and his collaborators. Reports by The New York Times and the New Yorkerpublished over the last week allege that Weinstein raped three women and sexually assaulted and harassed numerous others, using his influence in the industry to threaten and silence his victims. The Timesreported that McGowan herself reached a settlement with Weinstein over undisclosed claims in 1997.

Following the publication of these charges, McGowan has emerged as one of the most vocal denouncers of Weinstein. She has also called out numerous Hollywood figures that allegedly knew of his crimes and said nothing. She tweeted at Matt Damon asking, “what’s it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?” and, on October 10th, more simply: “Ben Affleck fuck off.” She has also called for the board of the Weinstein Company to be dissolved following the allegations.

This morning McGowan shared a screenshot on Instagram showing a message from Twitter stated she has “violated the Twitter Rules” and would need to delete certain tweets before the suspension would be lifted. After the tweets have been deleted, says the message, a 12-hour countdown will start before McGowan can fully use her account again. In the meantime, her account is still publicly accessible (unlike a full suspension, where all tweets are blocked from view).

It’s not clear which tweets violated the company’s terms of service, and The Verge has reached out to Twitter for further comment or clarification.

For critics of Twitter, this is only the latest example of the company’s arbitrary and opaque enforcement of its own rules. In the past, it has suspended users for simply sharing threatening messages they’ve received, while those reporting rape threats are told the messages do not violate Twitter’s rules. And there’s no shortage of active accounts telling others to “fuck off” on Twitter.

Debate over what content is allowed on the site recently came to the fore after President Donald Trump tweeted threats at North Korea, which the country interpreted as justification for war. Twitter said that particular message did not violate its terms of service in part because of its “newsworthiness.” Whether or not this was a consideration in the suspension of McGowan’s account is not clear, but now is not the time for Twitter to quiet a woman who is specifically trying to break a culture of silence that allowed harassment to continue for so long.